AngelCentral, an established angel investor club in ASEAN, said Thursday that Angel investing continues on in the region but with more caution and selection.

The investor club said in a statement that in the first nine months of 2025, it observed a 21.6 percent year on year decline in startup funding activity among the club members.

This includes both angel syndicated investments as well as direct investments made by members.

This sharp contraction highlights a clear shift in investor behavior – with angels exercising greater caution, investing less annually and prioritizing less risky and sustainable opportunities in today’s uncertain climate.

The first trend it observed is that the type of startups being funded has changed.

Where past years saw angels pursuing high growth, high risk opportunities aggressively, it noted the focus has now shifted toward companies demonstrating quick profitability and sustainable growth.

For example, its angels recently invested in AIRE and Blood – both are fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies that have clear market opportunity and proven gross margins.

Besides lower risk startups, its angels have shown an interest in follow-on rounds of existing Series A/B/C startups.

These follow-on opportunities often come at attractive valuations, have founders who have already demonstrated traction, and have a higher revenue base.

However, it noted that this is not to say that high growth or tech companies are completely out of favor as its angel investors still have a deep interest in artificial intelligence (AI) startups.

This is reflected in AngelCentral’s pitch days, where the largest proportion of presenting companies are AI centric.

Attendance by its members is also noticeably higher whenever an AI startup is pitching, underscoring the strong pull this vertical has.

“While the funding winter has impacted funding quantums and angels have shifted interest to lower risk startups, we know ASEAN’s demographic and growth story are still on a strong upward trajectory,” said Huang Shao-Ning, Chief Angel at AngelCentral.

“A good proportion of our seasoned member-angels have continued to invest. Similarly we see continued interests in this asset group from new potential angels attending our coffee chats and pitch days,

“Valuation expectations are now definitely more ‘friendly’,” she added.

AngelCentral is an angel club whose goal is to help build a community of effective angel investors in Southeast Asia.

To date, its club has trained and assisted more than 1000 angels regionally, and its members have invested more than S$35 million ($27 million) into various regional startups.

The release captures the evolving perspectives and behaviors of its 140 members.

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